Power of Bonds: Journey to the end
by Vox12349
Summary: After drowning in the pits of despair, the boy finds respite in this subtle yet strange town. The events that occur changes his fate. Can the truth be obtained? Multi-crossover story. AU. Main character is an OC.
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

"RAGNA THE BLOODEDGE!"

"TERUMI!"

The two blades clashed with each other, sending off a shower of sparks in every direction. One man's sword was almost as large as himself, his coat a deep crimson red, while the other wore a jet black suit, wielding a butterfly knife deftly in each hand. They were small but lethal.

The man clad in the black suit couldn't help but give a knowing grin.

"Give it up, Rags. Didn't the shitty vampire and Hakumen tell you? There's no way in hell you'll be able to beat me! So be a good dog and just DIE ALREADY, WOULD YA!"

The man dressed in the black suit, his green hair spiked up, lunged forward in an attempt to stab the man with the large sword. The colours of red and black seemed to blend together in their supersonic exchange. They were fighting with such ferocity that each became a blur, too quick to seen by the naked eye. They were fighting as though they were two moths over a flame.

Finally, both men's weapons clashed once more and sparks of destruction skipped over each other's metal. The black suited man pushed back and jumped just as the man in red slashed through the space where he once stood.

"TERUMI! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

"Forgive me? Like I give a damn!" countered Terumi.

His blade was stained with absolute hate for this man. It was because of him… Jin and Saya… He lost it…Everything. Ever since that day, the church, no, the world, burned in front of his very eyes. This man taught him how to truly despise someone. Death for him was doing him no justice for all the deeds he had committed. Day by day, this was the sole thing in his mind that drove him forward, to make this man suffer for all his sins.

Ragna the Bloodedge roared in anger and charged towards the man known as Terumi.

* * *

"I am sorry. But I have no other choice. Forgive me. I'll make it up to you… someday."

* * *

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

"Ding… Dong…"

"All passengers please remember to bring your belongings with you. The next stop is Shin Tokyo City. I repeat the next stop is Shin Tokyo City", chirped the voice over the intercom. A boy sitting next to the window sighed exasperatedly for the billionth time; he was getting sick of listening to the same announcer in the intercom saying the same things repeatedly. If he had to stay any longer, wouldn't it make him crazy?

He scanned his surrounding slowly, hoping for something that might amuse him. There was a couple at the other side of the carriage; both wearing happy expressions on their faces, apparently just satisfied by each other.

Must be nice, thought the boy.

Just sitting across them was an elderly man, snoozing loudly, his walking cane by his side.

There was also another person sitting at the opposite end of the aisle from the boy as well. This particular passenger was very noticeable. No young, normal school teenager's hair could possibly turn into such an abnormal shade of white, or was it silver? He couldn't tell; silver is just a shinier white, that was all he knew. He was wearing some very stylish and casual clothes. The name tag on his breast pocket read "Narukami Yuu".

'Yuu' started fidgeting about in his sleep. His closed eyes were rather scrunched up. However, other than his clear signs of discomfort, there wasn't anything else that indicated that the silver haired boy was in any sort of pain or danger.

Deciding that he shouldn't care, the boy yawned. He was also getting tired from looking at the same people who boarded the train at the same stop as him. He had scrutinized their facial expressions during the first half of the train ride to remember their faces just to kill some time.

The second half of the trip was healthily invested in sleeping.

If it was one thing he was good at, it was sleeping. Hell, he was the god of sleep. Just plop him down on any flat surface and he'd drift off in two seconds flat. He could even do it while standing up. Truth to be told, it was the only good trademark he had (if you even consider it good).

He would pay little interest in the people around him. The only exception he did this was only during the train ride as it was his last resort of anchoring his consciousness into reality. Even sleeping was taking its toll on him. He wasn't a fan of doing the same things over and over again. He considered sleep his greatest asset, therefore the best was saved for last. He felt that he wanted to preserve the wonderful falling into the dark abyss.

No one bothered him, he didn't bother anyone. It was a favorable win-win situation. Complicated people had complicated problems and he didn't like complicated stuff. Something short and sweet befitted someone like him. He had lost his spirit a long time ago. He had such dull cognitive senses that ever since he was a kid, people used to pick on him often. Such was the typicality of surviving; it was to eat or be eaten. The kids and teachers in his previous schools were such stuck up pricks who think they own the world. No one wanted that weird thing in their lives; they wanted him to disappear from their line of sight. No one understood him. He was just different, that's all.

He held his thoughts there, it wasn't pleasant to rake up old memories; there were no good ones, just a living hell. He didn't like the way people looked at him, nor their actions towards him.

He didn't like it.

Nope.

Not. One. Bit.

Maybe he should have remembered the horrified look on their faces when they saw the breathing mass of garbage that used to be one of his classmates. The steel pipe did his job to ensure the guy didn't have a face anymore, just a disfigured 'mask' of what used to be his face on his pathetic excuse of a living creature. Of course he didn't get caught; he took care of that problem at the bud. He was lazy, but he wasn't stupid.

With a bored look on his face, he decided to look out the window for a change. He rested his hand on his chin as he stared out the window. The lush green meadows of the countryside of the previous day were replaced by industrial, modern buildings that tower menacingly above all others in the city.

Shin Tokyo City… Where his new life begins… It wasn't always enough. His mom had sent him to countless towns. She had hoped for her son to have a better future, a better environment. She gave him numerable chances, but he just had to mess everything up. Even before this, he had practically travelled all over Japan by now. It was just another year.

Another period of time that was meant to be wasted. He was so sick of it. Why did she have to try so hard for? She doesn't own him anything. She was becoming weary of it. So instead of sending him anywhere else, she sent him to live with her sister, where he would still be cared and looked after. Even after her death, she still cared.

The boy simply shook his head. What a foolish person, she should have left him as he was when she found out what he did to all those people, no, they didn't deserve to be called as such things; they were monsters, he was the lone wolf, the badass anti-hero of his own little imaginary story. And he took care of those monsters. He was how he should have been... by himself.

Suddenly, his vision started distorting. The boy clutched his head. It was a deep, dull throbbing sensation that gave him a mild headache. The normal scene was suddenly replaced by an unknown darkness. The darkness obscured anything that could give a hint of what was happening to him. There wasn't a space that was unoccupied by total darkness.

That was when it appeared in front of him.

A blue butterfly started fluttering his field of vision. It was a Papillion butterfly which was unlike anything he had ever witnessed before. It was emitting a deep, warm sapphire light, resembling a bright gem in the sunlight. The eerie glow not only scared him, but it also… fascinated him in a strange, nostalgic way.

Finally, the mystery reached its climax and the shining butterfly burst into a dazzling array of color which almost blinded him. The boy instinctively closed his eyes and shielded himself with his arms. Finally, when the light died down, he heard a voice speaking to him.

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room."

The boy opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a sight that left him dumbstruck. He wasn't in the train anymore; he was enclosed in a room with walls on all four sides. There were no existing windows and the boy felt as if the walls were on closing on him as though they were suffocating him.

Furthermore, the sudden change in scenario came about as a shock to him. Thankfully, when he looked up, the black abyss above him gave him some short respite to this seemingly tightening space.

Across him sat a stout man with a peculiarly long nose. It wasn't the structure of the place that freaked the boy out anymore; it was this man in front of him that had a nose that shouldn't be that long! Once again, the boy was completely stunned. How can anyone's nose grow so long?

The boy settled the most logical answer he could come up with; the man was a fairy. Yes, that was it, he was short, had weird facial features and a magical spark about him. His receding hairline didn't make this encounter any easier.

The boy was lost in his own thoughts and would have continued to do so if it weren't for the strange old man that cleared his throat. The boy snapped out of his train of thought and became immediately aware of the predicament his was in. The funny thing was the walls were painted a deep blue, not any other colour but blue, giving it a rather monotonous place if it weren't for the soothing aria that was being sung in the background.

The long-nosed gentleman began to speak in a calm manner, "It looks like we have another guest. In such a small period of time and the same place as well! How intriguing! "

The man kept his grin the entire time the boy was there. He didn't mind it as long as the stranger in front of him kept his hands to himself. He wasn't very keen on people touching him.

"Could this person be…? Ah, my apologies for my rude behavior. I have not introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Igor, proprietor of the Velvet Room and I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I am sure you have many questions going through your mind. I will be sure to put those unanswered questions to rest. But first, I will need a name to address you by, don't I?" chuckled the Long-Nosed man named "Igor".

His name? Why would this creepy old man want his name for? To stalk him? The boy hadn't spoken a word in years after that incident. But for some reason, he can't help but move his lips. The man exuded power, power that indicated that this person was not to be trifled with. His pleasant stature made the boy feel as though no lie could go unnoticed by this man. He felt like he could entrust this man with his deepest, darkest secrets. There was no reason; it was simply pure instinct that he felt he could do it without a moment's hesitation. He had better play along for now, lest the man decided to do something worse than kill him.

And for the first time in years, the boy spoke.

"My name is …"

"Kurosai Shin."


	2. Chapter 1- Narukami Yuu : The Beginning

**Disclamer: I do not own Persona 4. Persona 4 is owned by Atlus and their respective owners. This is merely a work of fiction based around the game.**

**Narukami Yuu**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

**30st April 2011**

**Late Afternoon**

**Weather: Cloudy**

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room."

Narukami Yuu opened his eyes to find himself in the midst of what appears to be a car. The length of the vehicle he was currently in was too long to be that of a normal car. The colour blue decorated the entire interior of the car. It was getting apparent from his surroundings that it was a limousine.

The floor, the ceilings and even the overhead lamp were a deep sapphire blue. Wines adorned neatly at the side of the limousine, with glass goblets complementing them.

The limousine's engine droned lazily as it moved through the dark surreal fog outside. The fog was like an abyssal pit of darkness which made it impossible to see anything beyond the headlights.

"Ah, it seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny."

Yuu looked up and found himself facing an old, bald man wearing a business suit. His long nose reached to his gloved fingers that were intertwined together, his elbows all the while resting on the table which separated them apart. His bulging bloodshot eyes opened to greet Yuu.

Beside him sat a beautiful and gorgeous blond lady that wore a blue attire of sorts. It did not appear to be any sort of uniform Yuu has ever seen before. Her hair was tied with a hair band (which was blue as well) which accentuated fittingly with the blue attire she was wearing. An extremely thick book with a hardcover lay resting on her lap. She also wore long stockings and had blue stilettos as shoes. At her left, there was a platform where a few glasses were accompanied by a bottle of champagne.

Moments earlier, he was sitting in a train that was bound for Shin Tokyo City. Now, he was sitting in some limousine with two complete strangers of whom he knew nothing of.

"The Velvet Room?" Yuu thought aloud.

"Yes, this is a place that exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter." Igor replied.

Igor paused, allowing this new information to slowly settle down.

"Only those that are bound by a 'contract' may enter here. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future", continues Igor. "Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"I am… Narukami Yuu.", said Yuu curtly.

"Hmm…", said Igor. " I see. Now, let's take a look at your future, shall we?"

Igor placed one hand on the table. The spot where he placed it glowed a bright sapphire. Igor removed his hand and at the same spot, a pack of cards appeared out of nowhere as if it were magic.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?", asked Igor, a creepy grin all the while on his face.

Yuu shook his head, he didn't believe in such cheap parlor tricks that were meant to con innocent people on the roadside.

Igor chuckled. Now came his favorite part. With a simple wave of his hand, six cards flowed out of the deck to form a hexagonal shape with the decks as its centre.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the results are always different… ", chuckles Igor mysteriously. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

Igor then flips over one of the faced down cards to reveal a card depicting a tall tower being struck by a bolt of lightning coming from a sky. Two people were falling off the tower while the top half of it was blown off by the lightning.

"Hmm… The tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future beyond that is…" Igor paused, flipping over another card.

"The Moon, in the upright position." finished Igor. "This card represents 'hesitation' and 'mystery'… Very interesting indeed. It seems that you will encounter a great misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you."

"In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen."

Contract? Turning point in his destiny? What was this old man blabbering about? Yuu stared at him as if questioning his sanity. Igor swept his hand over the table and the cards vanished into thin air.

"Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you." Igor exclaimed, turning to the woman beside him, he gestured towards her. "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place like myself."

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you on your journey.", said Margaret.

Igor returned his gaze to Yuu. "We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell…"

And Yuu's vision faded into black.

"_**Well, I'm sure you all know already. This month, he will be transferring into another school.", said the teacher as he placed a hand on Yuu's shoulder.**_

_**The classroom began to be showered in loud murmurs.**_

"_**Are you serious?"**_

"_**Awwww…"**_

"_**I can't believe this!"**_

"_**Quiet down guys, I'm not done yet."**_

_**Yuu stood silent as the teacher went on about him being fortunate that his parents would send him to the city to let him continue his pursuit of knowledge. Very few people from the countryside would even make it to the city due to the high competition of jobs there.**_

_**The only reason that Yuu Narukami had a place there is because of his parents' work. They worked as high class entrepreneurs that made tons of money, actively supporting his family. Yuu was sent all over the country just because his parents' jobs demanded it as he had to follow them.**_

_**However, this time, even after deciding to move to the countryside to stay with his grandparents, he still cannot escape the fact that he was required to move out once more; not because of his parents this time, but because of himself. His parents wanted a bright future for him. His good grades, together with his good looks, ensured him a secured position that will one day inherit the family business.**_

_**His classmates around him were always aware of him, treating him as though if he were of a different league than them. They were always afraid of approaching him for fears of being treated like a peasant; and as if he were of royal blood. The disbelief of him going away coming from his classmates sounded so forced it was sickening. All of them knew his family's status in the tiny town. None of were courageous enough to become his friend; they were afraid. Sure there were small chit chats now and then, but Yuu felt as though he was isolated from the rest of his classmates.**_

_**Everyone would just go back to their seats and leave him alone. No real friends were made either. He'll just stay for a year and then he'll go off to some other place again.**_

_**Never finding roots.**_

_**Never finding someone willing to be his friend after learning that he'll leave by the end of the year.**_

_**Never making any memories. Now, he'll just need one more year and he'll leave again. Like how he's always been…**_

_**Alone.**_

Yuu woke up, this time inside the place of the train carriage. His head ached a little from the little encounter just now. What was that anyway? Yuu dismissed the thoughts in his head as his questions would have no answers.

Taking a deep breath, he reached into his pocket for his hand phone to check for any incoming messages. A little envelope icon at the front of his flip mobile phone indicated that it would require his attention. He flipped open his phone to read a message that said, "Meet us outside Yourichi station at 4pm".

Yuu flipped his phone back and kept it back into his pocket. At least Shin Tokyo is at sight. He took a long deep breath and sighed exasperatedly; it's been taking forever to get here.

"We have arrived at Shin Tokyo City. This train is headed for Aichi. All passengers please remember to bring your belongings with you… I repeat, all passengers remember to bring your belongings…"

The trained hissed to a stop, its engines giving off steam. Yuu stood up and brought down his bag from the top compartment. Taking out his coat from the same place, he slung it over himself and put his arms into the sleeves. He threw his finished cans into a dust bin nearby and went out the exit. Many people were also getting off the same stop as him as it was the business district.

On his way out, Yuu accidentally bumped into another person. "Sorry," apologized Yuu.

The person, with a sour look on his face, faced Yuu in a menacing manner. He glared at Yuu with a fierce expression, setting off bad vibes. However as quickly as he appeared, he vanished off hurriedly into the crowd.

"What's his problem?" Yuu questioned himself. Yuu didn't think of it too much and turned his attention to train ticket outlets outside. Putting his ticket into the machine, he stepped through the train station's entrance and walked out. Suddenly, he heard a voice shouting directly at him.

"Hey! Over here!"

Yuu turned towards the source of the voice and found two figures up ahead. It was a middle-aged man who was waving at Yuu. The man wore a grey shirt with pulled up sleeves that was neatly tucked into the long pants he was wearing. The man also wore a loose, red necktie and a brown belt along with a metal buckle. He had grey eyes, short, black hair which was graying, an unshaved beard and was slinging a black jacket in his left hand. In his other hand, he held the hand of a small little girl probably no older than five.

The little girl had short brown hair with two cute short pigtails and brown eyes. She wore a white turtleneck dress in pink which were horizontal stripes of two different shades of red. She had a very nervous stature and she was hiding behind the man, sneaking peeks at Yuu.

Yuu walked up to them and the man held out his hand to give him a handshake. Yuu did the same likewise and addressed the man.

"Hello.", greeted Yuu politely.

"Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo. Welcome to Shin Tokyo City, I'm Ryotaro Dojima, I'll be looking after you." ,said Dojima.

"Let's see..." He paused for a second, thinking. " I'm your mother's young brother… and that about sums it up.", Dojima said awkwardly.

'How does that sum it up?' thought Yuu exasperatedly.

"It's been a while, Uncle Dojima.", replied Yuu.

"Oh, so you remembered me, huh? At first I thought you were probably too young to remember who I was since the last time we met, I was changing your diapers, you know?", said Dojima gladly. He seemed surprised that Yuu remembered him. After all, he was still very young.

Dojima pushed forward the little girl that was standing by his side all the time. The little girl seemed very shy, and when Yuu looked at her, she couldn't help but looked down.

"This here's my daughter. Come on, Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin.", Dojima said forwardly.

Nanako was still avoiding his gaze, however she managed to utter a single syllable after a few awkward seconds.

"… ….'llo", muttered Nanako faintly under her breath.

After that, her face turned red and she quickly scurried back to her father's back.

"What're you so shy for?", chuckled Dojima good-naturedly.

Nanako began pouting angrily and slapped Dojima's butt. From the look on Dojima's face, she must have quite the arm power.

"Ow!", yelled Dojima. Nanako pouted and she folded her arms.

"Ha ha ha ha", laughed Dojima as he started rubbing his sore behind. Nanako began looking down again, embarrassed by her father's actions. Dojima turned to Yuu and said, "Well then, let's get going. My car's over there."

Dojima began walking towards his car and Nanako followed suit. Just as he started walking with them, a voice stopped him.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

Yuu looked back to a person staring at him. He recognised him as the same guy he bumped into while alighting the train. Looking closely at the piece of paper held in his hand, he realised it was the same paper which he wrote Dojima's address on. Yuu went forward and took the piece the paper from him, giving his thanks as he did so.

"Thanks..."

And the next thing that happened stumped Yuu completely. The person let go of his fingers that were holding onto the paper and by a huge coincidence, a wind began blowing past them, and the paper along with it.

Yuu was so dumbfounded that he just stood there with his hand outstretched, ready to grasp the already non-existent paper that was now flying away. It took a while to figure out what had happened, but by then the culprit had already left. Yuu was alone and only his hand was locked in place.

A cold wind blew past...

"Hey... Are you done yet?"

Dojima called out from his car, his engine was revved up already. It took a little while to realise that his uncle was calling out to him and he furiously shook his head, clearing his mind.

"I-it was nothing, Uncle!"

"Really? Then hurry up and get in! What are you doing staring into blank space for?"

"S-sorry..."

Yuu hung his head in shame and wondered what that in the world was with that encounter...


	3. Ragna stories part 1: Another shift

**Disclaimer: I do not own Blazblue, it is under property of Arc System Works and its respective owners.**

* * *

**Ragna Stories part I: New Shift**

Ragna panted heavily in pain as he struggled to hold himself up, glaring at Terumi all the while.

"Well, you're doing a lot better than I thought you would, Rags old boy. Let it be said that I'm a gracious… uh…,"Terumi paused and scratched his chin, as if mocking Ragna. "Uh, a gracious whatever. How about you try this on for size? I think it'll fit real nice!"

Terumi held out his hand and a metal snake appeared from a dark green portal from his palm. The snake head, which was attached to an endless chain for a body, sped towards Ragna, going in for the kill. With his last vestige of strength, Ragna swung his blade in retaliation. He barely managed to parry the blow, given his injured condition. Still, the fight had taxed him greatly, leaving him teetering on the edge of consciousness. Blood was oozing from the countless wounds on his tattered body.

Ragna felt like crap, it wasn't as bad as that time Hakumen had trashed him when he wasn't using the BlazBlue, it wasn't even like that time where Jin encased him in a block of ice with multiple ice swords stabbed through him. And it definitely was worse than taking the Red Devil's powerful crushing blows. The BlazBlue was one of the reasons for his tenacity. No, he felt worse than all those other times, not only because he was hurt and humiliated badly, but he was also furious. He was pissed at Terumi, who mocked him time and time again only to be beaten up badly by him. But worse off all, the person whom he was most pissed off at… was himself. He had vowed to become stronger, to protect his siblings by killing this madman who was so bent on causing despair to everyone, but he had failed, he wasn't strong enough to kill him. The Azure Grimoire, which was by his side since his teenage days had ceased to function properly. He NEEDED it! Why was it failing him now?

"_Whatever happens, you remember it's a path ya chose. Accept responsibility fer what you do. And don't ever make the mistake of thinkin' that the power of the Azure Grimoire is yers." _Ragna's master's words rang clear as day in his head. He knew he shouldn't have been pushing it but…

Before Ragna could finish that thought, the metallic snake bit down Ragna's sword before he could react. The snake bore its deadly fangs, sinking its metallic teeth into Ragna's blade. Terumi pulled back his arm and the snake followed, causing Ragna to be flung into the air in an overhead arc, landing him on the other side of the place. He cried out in pain when he smashed into the ground. The floor shattered slightly when Ragna crashed hard into the ground, sending a cloud of dust as he was sent reeling across the floor.

Terumi proceeded to shoot out his snake again at Ragna, however , it did not hit him, but instead stopped just inches away from his face. The snake's jaws clammed shut and locked itself in place. Terumi pulled himself towards Ragna at breakneck speed and delivered an extremely fast axe kick to Ragna. Anticipating the move, Ragna dodged it by rolling to the side. The high pitch sound of metal against metal resonated throughout the air as Ragna and Terumi faced off again with their blades. Ragna grunted, gritting his teeth and quickly followed up by running towards Terumi and slashed at him.

"Miss me!", Terumi yelled as he dodged another of Ragna's attacks. The crazy smile worn on Terumi's face was enough to give away his thrill. Terumi pummels Ragna with his lightning fast knife stabs, laughing madly all the while. Ragna had no choice to back off as he couldn't block all the attacks.

Spurting out blood from his mouth, Ragna's knees eventually gave way and he kneeled down on one leg, stabbing his massive sword into the ground and applied pressure on his newly received wounds. Ragna doubted he could take another strike from Terumi as he was bleeding too much blood. He didn't have the strength to even move his legs, let alone his sword. He should have been healing faster than usual due to his ability Soul Eater, but for some unknown reason, he was healing much slower than usual and he couldn't perform any of his special attacks; he could not draw power from the boundary through the Azure Grimoire, as if something was blocking him control.

"CAN YOU DODGE THIS, RAGS!" laughed Terumi hysterically as he threw his snake chain towards Ragna.

"Shit!" Ragna cursed as he held out his sword, bracing himself to block the incoming blow.

But the attack never landed.

Sighing in boredom, Terumi takes out his hat and plops it back on his head. The snake had retreated inside its spacial domain before it impacted Ragna.

"OK, I'm done." , said Terumi in a somewhat unsatisfied voice, like he had given up on trying to play around.

Ragna face turned into shock. "What?! You bastard! I can still go! Bring it you son of a- GAHHH!", screamed Ragna. Terumi had given him a swift kick to the face, making Ragna fly across the ground. Ragna slammed hard against the cold, hard floor, tasting the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

"Oh hush. Quit your whimpering or I will really end you, boy." Said Terumi coldly, not a single shred of humor he had when he was fighting.

"BUH!" spat Ragna as he willed himself to move, his arms twitching from sheer exhaustion and pain. The ground was slowly being colored red from the amount of bleeding coming from Ragna.

"All right, time to stop messing around. I've gotta admit, Rags, that was a pretty good warm-up. And you weren't using your Soul Eater! Gee, really? I feel a little hurt. I know that I'm pretty bad at fighting, but you didn't need to give me such a handicap. Right, Rags?", Terumi threw back his head and started to laugh again.

"Damn you… What the hell did you do?!"

"Oh nothing really, just sealing away your Grimoire. That thing was really becoming a major pain in the ass to deal with." Replied Terumi in a nonchalant manner, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And besides," Terumi began grinning as he looked the towering black monolith in the background.

"Finally, its time!" shouted Terumi ecstatically., throwing his arms in the air to signify his uncontained glee. Ragna looked at it with a terrified sensation in his mind. The ground began trembling due to the abnormal pulses that the monolith was giving off. He could feel how screwed he was when… whatever that was in that thing will be coming out.

"What the… What is that pulsating noise? ", shouted Ragna over the tremors. Then, realization struck Ragna as he felt that familiar feeling. "Is that… the Black Beast's heart? No… it can't be. You're planning on reviving the Black Beast?!" The healing factor was kicking in, healing him little by little. He couldn't have taken on Terumi even in his current state. He couldn't muster any more energy, his last ounce of strength ebbing away from his body.

Terumi peered at him, revealing his closed eyes which shone bright yellow. "What? What did you say? The Black Beast?", ridiculed Terumi. "Man, they don't make them any dumber than you, do they? Tell me, why THE HELL would I want another failed experiment like that?"

"Failed… experiment?" Ragna asked, keeping his hands on his closed wounds.

Terumi began rolling his eyes in exasperation. "HOLY SHIT, do you even understand words? Yes! A failure! It means it failed! Who the hell wants a monster they can't even control? The Black Beast was just a cauldron gone wrong. HAYWIRE! A cauldron!"

Ragna couldn't believe his ears. "Cauldron?! The Black Beast? A cauldron?", muttered Ragna, disbelieved.

Terumi, on the other hand, couldn't believe how dense this man was. "Ugh, you're not going to shut up until I tell, are you? I could just kill you…" pondered Terumi. "But, what the hell! Kids, its story time! The entrance to the origin, the gate to the Boundary, and…. you. Aaaalllll those things are called 'The Cauldron'. The Azure Grimoire, or BlazBlue, is an imitation of that. A… copy, if you will."

"So basically, the original form of the uh… BlazBlue is a cauldron. I built it so that I could pull some of the foundational Azure energy out of the Boundary. I needed to create the sword, you see. Think of it as err… how do I explain this to someone of your intelligence. How about… a solar panel, it draws power from the sun by absorbing the solar energy from the sunlight. Think of the BlazBlue like a panel, it takes in power from the sun or, in this case, the Azure. Oh please excuse my ranting, was I not clear enough?" apologized Terumi, without meaning a word he said.

"Moving on." Continued Terumi. "I had the basic bits together, but to refine the sword I need lots and lots and lots of souls. That's basically what the BlazBlue's function is."

"So, your Blazblue is pretty much a prototype. Well, I mean, kind of. It's like an imitation of the cauldron. Then when I was refining the sword, the whole thing went… kinda… batshit insane and turned into a Black Beast."

Suddenly, Ragna understood. "Then, the Murakumo Unit…"

"Oh, good job!" Terumi looked strangely pleased with himself. "Yes! The Murakumo Unit on its own was incomplete. Its needs the power of the BlazBlue. That's what that crazy chick, the 13th sample, was talking about, remember?"

"Number 13? Nu? Was that why she wanted to fuse with me?" thought Ragna as he began standing up slowly, still injured from the previous attack. His wounds had stopped bleeding… for now. Who knows when Terumi would open more.

"BUT! This time though, things are different! Noel Vermillion! She's the first and ONLY subject to obtain the Azure WITHOUT a Grimoire! And she possesses the TRUE power of the Azure! Its inheritance!"

"Wait that means… YOU SON OF A BITCH!" roared Ragna.

"HAHAHA! TOO LATE RAGS!" laughed Terumi. He threw his head back and spoke, his voice capturing the rapture of the moment. And, as one of the leading actors of this grand stage, he delivered his lines perfectly without falter.

" Now, MURAKUMO, ITS TIME TO AWAKEN! This world is filled with nothing but lies, LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES!" yelled Terumi hysterically. "But don't worry. I'll show you…I'll show you The TRUTH! THE TRUTH CALLED DESPAIR!"

The ball of large feathers hovering above the black monolith began to pulse harder now. The wings began to unfold slowly and gracefully. Then, something began to emerge out of the cocoon of feathers.

"No, not Murakumo- KUSANAGI! THE SWORD! THE GODSLAYER! YOUR BLADE SHALL BE THE ONE WHICH CUTS DOWN ALL LIES THAT COVER THIS WORLD!" exclaims Terumi like a maniac possessed by power. The being which resided in the cocoon began to open its eyes. Light poured out of the cocoon. As the light faded away, the being known as Kusanagi descended onto the world to pass final judgment.

"HAHAHAHA! THE AZURE IS MINE! Try and stop me now, Master Unit AMATERASU!"

* * *

Kusanagi, the girl once known as Noel Vermillion, floated down gracefully from the feathered cocoon. She was not wearing her usual officer uniform , but instead was donning pale white robes that flailed slowly in the fierce gale that appeared in response to her presence. The robes exposed her thin, slender legs and her stomach areas. She wore an armored head plate that had the number '十二' on it. There were blue glowing gems adorning her hips and thighs that shone with brilliance. The long flowing cape on her back had rings on their ends which held talismans in place.

Her lifeless eyes stared into blank existence. Terumi, a grin still on his face the entire time, beckoned to Kusanagi impatiently, being hardly able to contain his crazed excitement.

"I'm gonna stick this sword down your throat! GYEEHHAHAHAHA!" laughed Terumi, like a crazed murderer whose bloodlust has been lit on fire.

Ragna, now partially recovered from his endeavor, looked straight at Noel. Noel's only response was an empty suffocating silence that followed.

"Noel, is that you? Noel, answer me!", shouted Ragna through the strong current of wind.

Ragna, distracted for a brief second because of Noel's transformation, parried Terumi's sudden knife stab, resulting in a massive blow to his sides as Terumi kicked Ragna's head into the ground. Ragna screamed in agony and Terumi continued his sadistic torture as he slammed his foot on Ragna's head repeatedly. Ragna's wounds had reopened themselves and he began bleeding out the numerous orifices on his head and body again.

"Oh just shut up already, you filthy mutt! That's enough barking out of you!", shouted Terumi as a sick glare crept on his annoyed face. After a few heavy stomps, he came to an abrupt stop and Ragna was given a brief respite, for now.

"Y-you son of a bitch…!", managed Ragna as he writhed on the ground in utter agony, the searing pain only served to anchor him down between the world of the living and the next.

"Awww…. What's wrong? C'mon. Hate me. Hate me lots more. Hate me lots lots more, you adorable little puppy of a man, you!", taunted Terumi as he brought his face closer to Ragna to mock him.

"Guh!" spat Ragna.

Terumi began having a disappointed look on his bored face.

"Ugh, well this is getting boring. Hey Kusanagi, get over here for sec." commanded Terumi.

"Acknowledged.", replied Noel in a cold, robotic monotonous voice that could cut through steel.

"Noel… NOEL!" , shouted Ragna loudly. The effort used to shout was physically draining and it wasn't helping as he was bleeding severely. Terumi began stroking Noel's chin like a cat, however, it did not elicit a respond the robotic girl.

"Aww… that's so cute. Who's a good little sword? It's you! Yes you are! Yes you are.", cooed Terumi. " Oh, don't get jealous now Rags, this sword is all mine from now on, Ok? Isn't she nice, though? It wasn't easy, but I thought, 'Hell Hazama, you deserved it! Spoil yourself! Spring for the 'Ragna's little sister' model'!"

Ragna forced himself to stand up, using his sword as a support, he then yelled as loud as he could, his vitally returning to him by now, slowly but surely. "DAMN YOU TERUMI! I'M GONNA RIP YOUR GODDAMN HEAD OFF!" Ragna's grip on his sword was quivering unstably through sheer willpower. He had no energy left to even strike Terumi down, let alone swing his blade.

"Oh ho ho!" mocked Terumi excitedly. "Now we're cooking with gas! Glad to see you finally decided to join the party! C'mere fido, I'll play with you fetch or something… C'mon! C'MON!"

Ragna, forced into a corner, had little choice but to use his Grimoire's full power. If it didn't respond to him, then he'll just have to force it out! Clutching his right arm with his left, Ragna began to chant the familiar activation code. Terumi began doing the same as well, this time however he leaned backwards in arch and held up both arms at the same time.

"Restriction 666 released…"

"Restriction 666 released…"

"Dimensional Interference field deployed!"

"Dimensional Interference field deployed!"

"BLAZBLUE ACTIVATE!", both men shouted simultaneously.

* * *

"WHAT! That's impossible!", shouted Kokonoe in disbelief.

She slammed her fist into the bank of consoles in front of her causing the entire section of controls to shudder. Her hands trembled in complete incredulous and anger. Her eyes reflected on the report that was on her screen. It came from her subordinate, Iron Tager, and it left her in a stupendous daze. Terumi, her most hated archenemy… was dead?

* * *

**Author's Note: Tell me what do you think of the story so far. I would like to improve myself, so pls Review!**


	4. Chapter 2: Ragna wakes up

Ragna woke up with a splitting headache. He felt as if his brain was grinding against his skull and that sensation gave him an urge to puke his internal organs out just to clear his sick stomach. Ragna groaned with his eyes still closed, shifting himself upwards slightly with his arm. He was lying sprawled out on the ground with his back on the floor, feeling as if he went through the biggest hangover of his life.

The feeling of nausea began overflowing him with sudden disgust again. Ragna held back another wave of vomit when he tried to get back up. He failed when the force of his stomach bending inwards after he sat upright, causing him to regurgitate the gushing black substance. He lurched forward to try relieving himself better as the amount of bile rising out of his throat was larger than what he expected. The sudden momentum forward somewhat aided him in his vomit. He tried to hold back the black torrent spewing forth with his hand.

"Oh crap… I feel like shit. And what the hell is this stuff?", groaned Ragna pathetically. The putrid taste of his own retch lingered in his mouth. The smell alone was heavily intoxicating. Ragna wiped off his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt like any mortal would do out of instinct… and saw it.

"What the…."

Ragna noticed the strange markings inscribed on his arm. The markings contained dark-lettered runic descriptions that Ragna was unable to understand and decipher. The runes were lined up coiled and stretched across the entire length of his arm in a sort of double helix shape.

The BlazBlue was located at the back of his right fist which was the form of a red circular shell that could split into two. The lines of the runes intersected at the two ends of the red shell which surrounded it. He could feel the effects of the runes; it was some kind of complex binding Ars.

Who put it there, Ragna didn't know. It might some stupid prank the rabbit pulled on him. No matter, he knew that he was going to break it later, it was just a regular binding seal that could be easily be broken by his BlazBlue. What he also knew was that he was going to get out of here, whatever here could be…

Ragna's eyes opened wide in shock.

_No way…_

"WHERE THE HELL AM I!"

* * *

Izanami gazed into the vision in front of her. This omnipotent being watched the farce unfold with amusement written on her face. A white haired man has entered her domain. He was not of this world, nor the next. Not that she should care about such weaklings.

Ame-no-sagiri would never spawn such a pathetic creature like him to be his servant. She would annihilate this insignificant outsider later. At this moment, another pressing issue surfaced.

She shifted her watch over to the Fool, getting on with his daily life, oblivious to the dark fate about to befall him. However, in this human lies a great potential, great enough to pose a threat to even gods such as herself. His actions could alter the future, for better or worse.

"**How intriguing, another Fool's fate has been set forth."**

There was not one, but two Fools. The current one was interesting, but this one…

She would need to pay special heed to these two humans, they were the ones that can determine the results of this grand test of Humanities' will. The purpose of the human, Narukami Yuu, was already decided.

The other fool however, was an unknown factor in her plans. She had no idea of how he would affect her plans directly or indirectly. And besides, she was having problems already preventing **THEM **from setting foot on her territory. Their presence would only hinder the purpose of her tests.

**They** had caused so many people with the despair of truth. This was not how Humanity was supposed to live with outsiders like **THEM**. She had put a special barrier only affecting them; the… things that were not suppose to exist in this world.

Yet, many people do not know this, but they had contributed to too many of Mankind's achievements already. Even this does not give them the right to do what they like to the humans. The ends do not justify the means. These murderers…

Obviously, she was not talking about the two humans, but instead…

Nevertheless, she could not risk having all this foiled by **THEM**.

"**Hmm…?" **

The image of a young boy showed on her portal. A foreboding smile began crawling on Izanami's face.

"**It seems that it has begun."**

* * *

Ragna trudged forward grudgingly, lazily dragging his sword, Bloodscythe, behind him. He had been here at least around 5 hours by his own estimation. He was gonna find the person who stuck him here and make him eat his own shit. That way, he'll make that person experience what he felt just now, see how he feels about it.

He continued forward into the fog, god knows where it'll take him. He had better chance to survive in this crap hole by moving forward than stay at the same spot where his guts were. Ragna had little to no vision in this place due to the thickness of the fog covering every length of this place. He couldn't even see two feet in front of him. If he held up two of his fingers, he couldn't tell if he himself was holding up any fingers at all. It was like a never-ending pathway to an unknown heaven or hell.

Ragna had to find some place to rest up, he was getting hungry. Not to mention his innards were probably dead. The unknown black colored crap in his stomach was gone, but since he puked his dinner, he didn't know what he could do to settle down his hunger. All he had on him was a can of beef he'd saved up for his precarious long trips to the NOL bases and he had already just finished the last piece of meat, it was good quality beef as well. What the hell did he eat last night that could cleanly wipe his mind from any events that happened last night anyway?

He couldn't even remember what happened before he woke up. Nothing had come up when he tried to recall last night and the days before.

Ragna's train of thoughts was interrupted when he saw something up ahead. He couldn't make it out, but he was certain it was a person. Damn, he needed to go after the person to find out where he was. By now, Ragna was certain he wasn't in Kagutsuchi anymore. There was no place he knew that existed in that city contained so much fog blanketing the entire place.

Another trace of the figure was caught by the corner of Ragna's eye. The figure was the only way he could ever hope to make it out of this fog infested place. Ragna put his sword into the holster located at his back and ran where he last saw it.

Then, without realizing it, he went right on and smacked his face onto a wall. Ragna's figure was stuck to the wall as if it was flypaper, and he was the fly. He's frame slowly began sliding down the wall in such a comical way, it was impossible not to laugh at his silly mistake. His face could only be described as a mixture of confusion, absurdity, happiness, and then anger.

His confusion came about when his brain was deciding whether he ran into something solid, or it was just a truck. He had lost 1000 brain cells during the impact. He was foolish attempt of trying to hide something as stupid incident like this would not come to be. His absurdity came from the fact that he did not see the wall in time and made a stupid mistake, something that the freaking Rabbit and stupid Luna would use this against him and haunt him the rest of his life like ghosts (at this, he shuddered). His happiness was from the joy of finally finding some source of civilization and possibly get some help by getting out of this fog-filled place.

Standing up, his anger finally came after his happiness when a possible thought crossed his mind. There was only one person who could possibly do something like this to him just for own amusement. There was no other explanation for she had the ability of teleportation. With that in mind, Ragna threw back his body, yelling with such force it could bring a building down, directing all that anger to punishing her when he gets back.

"DAMN YOU, RACHELLLLLLLLLL!"

Panting for his breath, he didn't expect to use so much energy to chase down the unknown figure in the fog. It was only a week after his battle with Terumi and even then he should have recovered by now.

"Stupid fog. Must be getting out of shape…"

Ragna looked around to have a feel of his surroundings. He made out a faint outline of the buildings. Strangely, the degree of visibility was much lighter than before and he could see the buildings standing around him. It seemed that he was in a town of some sort. He found this out because his hand was holding to the same wall that was responsible for his brain damage and earlier humiliation. The wall belonged to a building that he somehow recognized.

"? Isn't this… The Doc's clinic?"

Indeed, right in front of Ragna, was Miss Litchi's local clinic.

"Then, this place must be… Orient Town?"

It was impossible. The place showed no signs of people here as the streets were emptier than a… a… uh…

Ragna couldn't think of anything that could go with that. He smacked his forehead to reprimand himself for such silly thoughts when they were not related to his situation.

He decided that he was still in Kagutsuchi and the people here were probably in their homes since the fog was too thick for anyone to see. Ragna opened the door to Litchi's clinic to find her; maybe she should know something like this. Truth be told, Ragna had never seen fog before his travels. He was amazed by how much a scenery can change so much when fog invaded it. Even so, this fog seemed… unnatural. Like it was…

Hold on sec, it can't be some kind of Seither can it?

Ragna pushed that thought away. If so, he'd been on the ground writhing in pain already. He had experienced before when he handled his Azure Grimoire, it didn't go prettily. Lucky his master was there and somehow stopped it before it got worse. Ever since, Ragna was very careful when handling it, being conscious of its power and using it to get out of life-and-death moments.

For example, Hakumen. Dude was kicking his ass like taking candy from a baby. Then, after activating the BlazBlue, it was Ragna's win. Even then, it wasn't easy defeating Hakumen. Guy was like a tank and took whatever that came his way with equal force. It took a lot out of Ragna just to beat him. His damn barrier always got in the way.

The door to Litchi's clinic chimed when the bell above it greeted the person who came in cheerily, although ironic, Ragna seemed to relax a little when he heard the familiar sound. The eerie atmosphere in the town was replaced by the usual place Ragna was accustomed to, but darker. The lights were off so it was pitch black inside. Ragna groped blindly in the dark to find the switch needed for the light Ars to activate.

Normally the only times Ragna ever comes here was because of Tao, the oversized cat always dragged him around just so she could free load food off him. Luckily Litchi's homemade meat buns always seemed to satisfy Tao (just by a little bit), so he was kinda grateful to the doctor. Although Litchi was hardly out of the clinic since she was always tending to the patients here kindly as if they were her own family. Even whenever she goes out to gather herbs or get groceries, her assistant, Linhua, would be the one attending the patients. However, neither of them was here.

The clinic was completely void of any life at all. There was no indication of any recent activity within here. The shelves which held herbs and special medicines did not seemed to be hurriedly left halfway opened as usual but were instead held in place neatly in their places. Even the steam cooker which was always left on should Tao want any freshly cooked steamed meat buns was lifeless. The whole place didn't seemed used in ages, yet there was still no dust settling on the furniture.

Ragna went around the clinic again to check if he'd missed anything. Making sure there was no one here, Ragna opened the door to the outside. Ragna put his hand on his hips and scratched his head, puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of the doctor.

To confirm his suspicion, Ragna intruded several apartments, all which he found to be empty, just like Litchi's clinic.

"Where the hell everybody go?"

Then, he saw it again. This time he was certain, it was the same figure he was chasing down just now. He was sure of it. Time to catch this asshole and beat him up so he can tell who the hell he is and why was he following Ragna.

With that, Ragna pursued the strange phantom into the unknown fog. Now, he wasn't sure where he was now. But he believed if he trashed this stalker he'd get some answers. And besides, what were the chances of it being a gho…

Ragna had to forcibly hold back a scream.

"Don't go there, don't go there, don't go there…"

At last, he was almost catching up to the figure. Nearly missing a tree and narrowly avoiding a root sticking out from the ground, there was grass surrounding him now. He saw a wooden door where the figure had entered and charged right through it. Smashing down the door with his foot, Ragna yelled out with a loud voice.

"ALRIGHT YOU PIECE OF SHIT! COME OUT SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS! YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING ME THIS ENTIRE TIME, RIGHT?"

But Ragna was shouting in an empty interior of an old building, he didn't feel any presence of the figure as if it didn't exist in the first place. The place had an old, nostalgic feeling that he'd known it from somewhere. He'd been traveling to many places, but none had the same effect on him.

Yes, deep down, Ragna realized where he was. There was no mistake. This was the same place he had lived in when he was a kid. Trembling at this revelation, Ragna muttered, his breath speechless.

"No… freaking… way…"

It was the same church he slept in. It was the same church where he played with his brother and sister. And it was the same church where he lost his arm and nearly died as a result. There was no way he'd not recognized this wretched place. It was pulling at the heartstrings of his emotions and it was somewhat unbearable to be here. It was the last place he wanted to be. Suddenly, Ragna realized it was impossible that he could somehow run towards the church from Kagutsuchi. The distance between them were far too long and the time taken to run here was far too short. Something was messed up.

"**Well, how does it feel to be back home?"**

Ragna eyes remained widened in shock, his head slowly turned to meet the newly revealed person.

"**So, what do think of the design? I made it just the way it once was, before it burned down that is. Everything's back to normal. So, what's your opinion of it? Oh wait, there's no need for that. I know you'll just love it anyway in whatever design that I make up. Besides, that's only logical, right, me?"**

'Ragna' said gleefully as a wide grin stretched across his expressions. His voice was a distorted version of Ragna which reverberated as though it came from his soul. The 'Ragna' that stood before him was the exact copy of Ragna from head to toe. The only noticeable difference was the dark aura surrounding him and his glowing yellow eyes which gleamed brightly like a topaz jewel.

"Wha-wha…"

"… …" 'Ragna' let the sight of himself sink into him before letting out a low chuckle.

"You… … who're you? How the hell do you look like me?"

"**Isn't it obvious, how could you not recognise yourself. The one, the only Grim Reaper, the highest bounty in the world on his head who's an SS-class criminal, Ragna the Bloodedge!"**

The enigmatic clone of Ragna gave him a grin which only looked down on Ragna's stupidity.

"**So Terumi was right after all, you really are dumb! HAHAHAHA!" **

Ragna's clone laughed, giving off a high shrieking laughter.

"SHUT UP! I'll ask again… … WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, POSER! And what do you mean by you're me?!"

The other person only stood there and smiled dumbly, his hands on his hips.

"**Why, does it really matter? You're back here again, where it all started… The moment your life went to shit and you made the biggest boo-boo in your life…" **

"**Living."**

Ragna's clone stopped grinning and gave him a hateful scowl.

"Wha…"

"**Don't play dumb! This place is where you lost EVERYTHING! Your siblings, your arm, your EXISTENCE! Why do you live a pathetic life! Ragna 'the Bloodedge'? What a joke! You lived your entire life as fake and a liar. You just wanted to become a hero! Becoming something that you could only have dreamt of, controlling something that could only shouldn't have been, and defeating someone whose power was never in your means!"**

Ragna's clone began emitting an ominous black mist as he spouted Ragna's weaknesses, aiming only to hurt and humiliate him with the vicious truth.

"**Poser?! Don't screw with me! You took the name of someone whose name didn't fit you! You could never hope to reach the same level as he was! For fuck's sake, he STOPPED the freaking BLACK BEAST for an ENTIRE YEAR! What about you, huh?! You couldn't master the damn thing on your arm, you can't kill Terumi and you can't do SHIT without that power. But even with that fucking thing, you're STILL WEAK. You're nothing! Just a pathetic piece of trash! Just like you ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!"**

"I… I…"

Ragna stuttered, at a loss for words. Him? weak? He was considered one of the strongest beings on the planet and the NOL had acknowledged that threat level by giving him a super high bounty on his head.

Ragna clenched his fists at the enigma's words. However, each word that came out of his mouth was like a cemented brick wall thrown towards his solar plexus. The excruciating truth of the words hurt so much Ragna couldn't take it anymore. Thus, with renewed hate, Ragna countered it with equal tenacity of denial.

"Oh yeah? Who the hell do you think you are? You don't know WHO I am. Pretending to be me if my face on. You son of a bitch… Do you think you're gonna get away with shitting on my…"

"**OH YEAH? DO YOU THINK I'M WRONG? All these years, you've been holding that rage and anger inside you. But… the funny part is that it's not ONLY directed at Terumi, but mostly against YOURSELF!"**

Ragna, his eyes did not show anger, this time, it showed fear. He did not expect someone to expose his entire unconscious like this. Ragna felt like his mind was being dissected and cut open for people to prod in it. The inescapable, overwhelming feeling of fear of having his inner secrets stripped bare for everyone to see was slowly engulfing him. Ragna legs began to shake, his face showed hysteria.

"No… …."

Ragna felt the millions of voices echoing throughout the church, all of it was laughter. They were all laughing at how big of a fool Ragna was. He began to cover his ears to silence the embarrassing laughter around him.

Ragna's clone continued with every intention of wanting to break him into many irreparable pieces.

"**You couldn't protect Jin, you couldn't protect Saya, and you let the old hag die… worse of all, you couldn't even protect yourself, let alone anyone else!"**

Ragna emotional walls began melting down, the truth was too much. Ragna could only raise a hand to attempt to deny it, stammering began to invade his speech.

"N-no, I… I… couldn't… It… wasn't… my f-fault…"

"**How freaking retarded is that? Oh… it's not my fault, just blame someone else, I don't care! Hurr durr!"**

Ragna's clone mimicked Ragna's action melodramatically, adding humor and mocking Ragna at the same time.

"**Do you know what the best part is? The best part is… it's because you planned to! HAHAHA! What shocking plot twist, right? You monster, that's why you did all that! That's the only reason why you can't beat Terumi, it's because you DON'T WANT TO! Everyone wants to see you as a hero to defeat the bad guy and save the day! You kept the maggot around as the insect he was just so you can feel good about yourself."**

"I…I…That's not…"

At this point, Ragna was drowning in despair. He couldn't hear anything else other than the clone's ranting.

He… didn't want to?

He… was a monster?

Despite having been called that his entire life when he used his Soul Eater ability against people, he felt like as if giant hole has been ripped through him. It was why people gave him his nickname, the 'Grim Reaper'. He wasn't a hero, he never thought of himself as one.

"**Those lies of 'Oh, killing him will make life better' are just that, lies! Life can't get any better! I know this better than anyone else…" **

"How…"

"**I said it already… …I'm you."**

Ragna his mind had crumbled under the pressure, reason didn't matter anymore, his knees on the ground. The calm, badass façade he had was shattered, revealing the trembling weak inside him. Ragna mumbled with the bangs of his hair covering his eyes.

"You're not..."

The clone gave Ragna a look of annoyance and went towards him slowly, his footsteps echoing throughout the church. Kneeling down on one foot, he faced his side towards him and cupped his ear.

"**Huh? What did you say, worm? I can't hear you!"**

"You're… You're not…"

Then Ragna his face full of tears screamed a shout that could only be inscribed in agony.

"YOU'RE NOT ME!"


	5. Chapter 3: The Contract

**Author's Note: New chapter! Hope you all enjoy it :) **

* * *

Shin shifted his view around lazily. The boring scene in front of him was… well, boring. The wait for his aunt to pick him up was painful to stand and he couldn't even sit down on a bench. There were too many people and the sight of people sickened him a bit.

There were so many just walking around him he felt outnumbered, it was the train station to the city after all. Such a great number of people always made him a little uneasy, there wouldn't be places to sleep at all. He was currently standing at a bus stop stand, leaning against the pole for support, where else could he have slept then?

According to the message they should have reached by now… But they can take all the time they want.

"BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP…"

Shin's phone began vibrating noisily in his pocket. Taking out his phone and looked at the message he just received, he looked around for a moment before giving out a sigh.

"So… they left me huh."

His voice... it was...

For no reason, his voice had come back to him. The old man in that weird place didn't say anything about this.

* * *

_"My name is… Kurosai Shin."_

_The old man in the tuxedo gave him a nod of approval. He then snapped his fingers, producing blue sparks that danced around them. The flames dissolved and out appeared a curious piece of parchment that looked like it recently came out from the Dark Ages. _

_On it, It was inscribed:_

_"I, solemnly pledge that henceforth, all actions are my responsibilities and mine alone. No one is to be blame for my mistakes but me. These words written here are the proof of my pledge. From here on out, I will take on the mantle as a Wild Card, not through my own gains but through the contract of another. I chooseth this path of my own free will._

_This is my pledge"_

_The paper floated down smoothly on the table in front of him, landing lightly and giving off a magical sensation. Then, beside it, a quill adorned with a beautiful royal blue feather on its end, lay resting in its ink container. _

_Igor gestured towards the parchment._

_"Here is your contract, please read through it carefully before deciding if you would sign it."_

_The man in front of Shin, Igor laughed softly, wearing a wide smile on his creepy face._

_"What makes you think I'll even bother?"_

_Shin by now had lost interest at this and he stood up from his seat, rubbing his throat all the while. _

_'What, what happened to my voice? It… came back?'_

_Igor reached out a hand towards Shin._

_"Now, please listen carefully to me. The contract is very imperative for your Journey, without it, you cannot hope to complete it. This contract is a simple affirmation that you are receiving help from us and utilizing the power of the 'Wild Card'. "_

_Shin was too busy looking for a way out this messed up place. There was a blue door at the back of the seat Shin sat which Shin then nonchalantly strutted towards. _

_"Huh? It won't budge?"_

_He tried yanking it but it seemed meaninglessly futile._

_Now, it was Igor's turn to speak._

_"I know, from your stubborn personality, that you would refuse to listen to me. But be warned, this situation involves your full and undivided attention. Please have a seat, this is very important! You are allowed to leave once I have finished talking about your predicament."_

_Shin could hear that his voice had some partial desperation in it. Then, deciding that he couldn't go anywhere else, he complied reluctantly and sat back down on his seat, looking towards the side as he did so. Igor had a grateful look on his face._

_"Thank you. Now, you will be give two years to fulfill your role in this place, then what happens after that depends on you. Your decisions, your actions, everything will affect the course of nature. What will be and will become, the past, the present and the future, you are the deciding key in all of this. Judging by the confused look on your face, none of this could be understood at all." _

_"Of course, I will explain this at a later time, please do not fret. There is a reason for all of this, you're entering a new life, transferring to a new place to live in. All these might be familiar to you, as you have done in the past. However, this time, it is different. You will see." _

_Igor chuckled mysteriously, his hand wavered over the parchment and the quill pen hovered to Shin's right hand. Shin let the pen float into his palm, strangely he seemed to be intrigued by the way this pen moved, and hardly anything bothered him nor deserved his attention._

Wait a second… How did he know about him moving in the past?

_Shin looked at the parchment. Again, he didn't want to do it. He didn't want any responsibilities in his life. He didn't want to get committed to something, he had better stuff to do. And all this stuff sounds very dodgy, there were no details of what he should do, of what was going to happen to him when he signed the parchment._

_All in all, he felt like he shouldn't do it. But something deep down, something awoke in him. He didn't know what that something was, but he felt like it was telling him he should. It was a very indescribable, foreign feeling that ached his heart. _

Maybe_…_

_Shin looked at the parchment again, and his hand began to move. _

Why not, anything's better than having a boring life.

_Shin thought to himself, feeling something channeling itself into him. There, on the parchment, was his signature, plain and clear. It wasn't something curly nor fancy, it was what he really liked it to be, simple. The words shone a bright azure color and the entire parchment lifted itself up into the air. The parchment was vibrating sharply in a way Shin didn't like._

_The parchment automatically folded itself up like a puzzle fixing itself. The parchment, no, the contract was now complete._

_"We will meet again, for now, please rest easy. You have nothing to worry about… …"_

_"… Yet."_

* * *

"Really? You had to go stand me up like this huh?"

The instructions of the message were concise, straight-forward and clear. Shin was to reach the house hold of the Tobi family by 5 this afternoon. The address was especially typed in mundane bold letters.

Shin groaned. Now he had to go look for the house?! They were suppose to pick him up like they said they would, now he wouldn't have any time to sleep on the way there. How was he suppose to walk and sleep at the same time? He knew he could sleep anywhere at any given point of time, but this is ridiculous. He can't sleep and walk at the same time. The mere mention of it was absurd.

At least he killed some time by dropping that dude's paper, he'd found it on the ground and he looked at what was written on it. It appeared to be an address. The wind had helped him be an asshole to that guy as he made him lost his way. He hoped he wouldn't be able to reach his destination, that asshole... It was payback for bumping into him anyway.

Shin rubbed his throat, half-disbelieving that he long-lost voice had returned. After all these years, his voice was no longer mute and he could talk like a normal person again. It was an unfamiliar sensation to use his voice to talk as he hadn't use it in a long time...

After an incident from his childhood, he had lost the ability to converse and since then had to suffer in silence for many years.

Sighing again like he had always been doing his entire life (such things were normal for him), he looked at the address. He had no clue where it was since it was his first time in Shin Tokyo City, luckily there was book shop opposite the station where the main buildings were at.

He went in and bought a map of the area, he still had money from his mom's bank, so he wasn't all that broke even though he did not have a job. He had been using the money sparingly. The reason being there was nothing interesting to buy apart from basic necessities.

Shin took out his phone again to use it as a reference.

"What a pain… Oh well, gotta do it anyway. I can't sleep on the streets, as much as I'm tempted to do so."

Where the hell was this station at again?

One thing to note, he was terrible at reading maps, they were so complex, that being one of his greatest weakness. He had difficulty in understanding things that were in a complicated fashion.

"Hello there sir, can I help you with something?"

"Hmm? Who what where?!"

Shin became instantly startled, attracting the attention of some of the other customers in the shop. He immediately turned towards the person who talked to him. He wasn't used to that kind of tone directed towards him. It was… normal, unlike the usual hostility he knew and hated that people gave him.

"C-calm down, sir. You seem to have some trouble reading the map. Can I help you to find where you need to go? I know this area rather well myself. Just got my driver's license so all the more reason I need to know these parts here if I want to drive, know what I'm saying?"

"Uh huh…"

Shin mumbled dejectedly.

_Great now someone wants to bother me. Oh well, better make sure I make this lady seem like she's doing her job properly as a store clerk._

He shrugged and handed the store clerk the map and his mobile phone. The clerk took a glance at the phone's screen and her face lit up.

"Let's see… … Oh! 9th street huh? That's only a walk away from here. It should be… … that direction."

The clerk handed back Shin his stuff and pointed to the right of the store. Shin nodded and walked off, but not before the clerk yelled for him.

"Whoa, wait up! At least talk for a while, it can be a little boring here, ya know? And it seems like it's your first day here, right? I can tell, teenagers here can be rather materialistic with their, er… fashion. But your clothes don't look like they match together. They look like you took a bunch random clothes and wore them without any sense of fashion. Not only that, but you still look rather confused about where to go, am I right, or am I right?"

Shin looked at the woman, thinking if she was some kind of psychic. To be able to be so observant, was this what it's like to live in the city? People here seem to read his expressions like a book, or maybe it's just him.

"Err… well…"

Shin then started nodding sheepishly. The clerk started laughing. He became pissed at her, a noticeable vein appeared at his temple. She noticed this and slapped him on the back.

"Aww… C'mon, I was just messing with ya! But, seriously, it's just boring to stay like this all day without having anything else to do. Just sitting down on your ass, and just look at people come and go. Wouldn't you agree?"

The clerk looked at Shin curiously, then she said.

"But, it ain't half bad talking to you. I feel like we've got something in common. I know! How about I lead you to this address? My break's coming in at 5 more minutes, then I'll ask my boss if I can show you around here? Sound like a deal?"

Shin then shook his head and pointed towards the direction the clerked just pointed to him, and then he pointed to himself. He shook his hand as if saying 'No'.

"What happened to your voice? You were speaking fine a moment ago. Oh… I see. You're a shy type aren't you? You don't want to trouble me, is that it? No worries, it's my pleasure…"

But, Shin repeatedly shook his head again, showing how adamant he was of her going along with him.

"Ok ok! Stop shaking your head, it's gonna come off any second now! Tell you what, if you're free, there's always vacancy for a part-time job here at the bookshop. So feel free to join us, we can talk again. 'Kay? It's not half-bad talking to you."

_It wasn't bad talking to him?_

Shin's eyes widened. Unknowingly, deep down, it was as though she said the most wonderful thing in the world.

The clerk held out her hand, beckoning Shin to shake it. He looked at it with an eyebrow raised, thinking it was a trap to zap him with one of those hand shake zapping things.

"C'mon, I won't bite."

Reluctantly, Shin took her hand.

And then…

Feeling a little weird after shaking her hand, he turned to the exit.

Shin nodded, thinking that he'll never come back here. This clerk seems a little creepy to ask him to come back here again. Well, whatever the reason, he'll head on towards the house and anything else wouldn't matter….

"Hey new guy, you're going the wrong way!"

Shin didn't hear her and continued walking to left side of shop, which was opposite of where he should go. The clerk chuckled to herself, "What a blockhead…"

Sighing out of habit, Shin began walking towards the place with sleep on his mind. He was in a bad mood, first some crazy old man with a sick long nose tells him about roles and saving the world and some other bullshit. Then that guy with the silver head or whoever he was bumped into him, disrupting his day dream when he was walking. He hated it when someone distracts him like that. Whoever that person was, he didn't like him already.

While looking down at the ground, he caught a glint of gold. Standing out amongst the dullness of the grey pavement, he noticed a gold coin. The mere sight of it made his eyes turn to it. For the fun of it, Shin bent down to pick it up, pocketing it in his trousers. He didn't notice that it was a coin, just that it was shiny and only that made him interested to even take it.

Then, all of a sudden, his vision suddenly blurred. It was an unnatural experience. One moment, he was feeling fine, the next he was tripping out badly. He began to see a veil of blurs covering the street. The vision distorted, the streets where there were once people were replaced by a swirling mixture of throbbing white and black, as if they were real. All the distortions expanded and contracted around him.

Gasping for air, he put his arm on a nearby wall, he clutched his throbbing head and his chest started burning like fire. Every unstable step he took only made him feel even worse. He thought he heard something, like someone shouting towards him. He didn't know anymore, he just wanted to sleep...

In the midst of his vertigo, Shin failed to notice the falling debris that was hurtling at deadly velocity towards him from above.

There were loud gasps and a single scream pierced the still, stagnant air, and Shin was no more.

* * *

**Late Afternoon**

Yuu stepped out of the car, feeling a little tired from his trip. Nanako had done the same as well. Dojima had gone to the mart to buy some supplies after having Yuu's assurance that he'll take care of her after he wasn't there.

"Can I go to the toilet?"

Nanako looked at Yuu with desperate eyes that really showed how urgent she was.

"Yeah... Do you know where the toilet is?"

Nanako shook her head. Then, Yuu turned to the man wearing the gas station uniform who was attending the car's refuel.

"Excuse me, where is the toilet here?"

The man turned and looked around for a moment before replying.

"Sure, it's 'round back on your left, you know. The place you don't hold your chopsticks in."

Nanako looked annoyed and gave the man a weird stare.

"Gee... I know that already."

"Do you need someone to accompany you?"

Yuu asked Nanako, worrying if she could make it alone.

Nanako shook her head, her pigtails bouncing.

"No its okay. I can manage on my own."

Yuu watched as her tiny figure disappeared behind the dirty looking back of the gas station. Then, the gas station attendant started talking to him.

"Hey, you new around here?"

Yuu blinked, half not expecting the attendant to start a conversation with him, at least he had something to do while waiting for both his uncle and cousin.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, I am Narukami Yuu."

The man looked mildly surprised.

"Well, what a well-mannered young man you are. It's nice to meet you too, Mr Narukami."

Yuu gave a flustered laugh. He was not used to people calling him, Mr Narukami.

"I can tell you aren't from these regions. Never seen you here before. Not only that, but that look on you face... You've been travelling on the trains haven't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Oh, so I was right after all. Sorry, that's just a bad habit of mine, reading people's expressions and judging their reactions to find out where they came from. It's something I picked up to pass the time here. There aren't many breaks and the city's packed with cars. It's just something to do during my free time. Luckily there's a gas station from here once every few stops, so it's not as packed as it should be."

Yuu nodded his head in agreement.

"Then, have you ever thought of leaving your job? That talent of yours could be useful somewhere else..."

At that, the attendant shook his hand.

"Nope, this job's got a special place in my heart. It's where I get to meet interesting individuals and interact with them. Keeps me going to see a smile on their faces when I talk to them. This reminds me..."

The attendant put a hand to his chin and pondered in thought.

"There should be some vacancies... Oh, pardon my mumbling. Are you high school? Just wondering."

Yuu replied, his head free of suspicious thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm in my second year actually. "

The man clapped in delight.

"That's excellent! Here's some advice for you, free of charge. There's a lot to do here in the city, you're going to busy with your homework some days, doing part-time jobs or enjoying time with your friends. But speaking of part-time jobs, we're actually looking for some help right now. Interested?"

Yuu thought about it. He could spend some time here making some money here instead of only staying at home doing his work. Besides, he didn't have any friends at all, so there wouldn't be much of a problem of using his free time for jobs.

"Give it some thought. We don't mind if you're a student. Just come here if you want a job."

The attendant extended out his hand, which Yuu shook willingly.

"Oh! I should get back to work! See you later!"

The man rushed back into the mart to attend to his other chores. By this time Nanako had returned from her rather lengthy trip to the ladies.

"You sure took your time." Yuu smiled.

"I-it was nothing! I-I just had to take of some business. T-that's all!" Nanako replied, her cheeks tinted red with embarrassment.

She probably didn't want Yuu to know what else she had been doing in the washroom. It must be embarrassing for her to talk to her about it.

Yuu laughed lightly while Nanako looked away, abashed.

"Geez... Both Dad and you keep teasing me."

Suddenly, at that same moment. Yuu's head started hurting badly, like a wild tornado unleashed in his brain and it caused his mind to start feeling sick. He would have lost his balance if the car was not there to stop him as it was just next to him.

Nanako's face turned into that of shock. She quickly opened the car door, rushing to help him get into the car so he can sit down.

"A-are you okay?!" stuttered Nanako worriedly.

"I-I'm fine... I just need to rest. It's just car sickness, that's all." Yuu dismissed.

Afterwards, Dojima arrived to the car with bags of food and a milkshake in hand for Nanako, being clueless about the events that have transpired before. Dojima apologised to Yuu, explaining why he took so long since he had to get a smoke first. While on the way back, Nanako had stopped having a depressed look on her face and started smiling as he drank the deliciously sweet milkshake. She must have been worried sick.

* * *

**Evening**

After a few minutes, he had arrived at the district where the Dojima residence was. The whole house had a rather humble look to it with twin windows at each side of the house, making it symmetrical and it had two rather small-looking storeys. Dojima slid the door entrance to his house and walked in with Nanako.

Yuu stood outside for a while to see the rather peaceful exterior of the house. Then, Yuu followed them with his haversack full of belongings at his back.

"Welcome to the Dojima residence. You can put your bags over there first. I'll show you your room after dinner." Dojima pointed to a spot near the shoe cabinet.

Right next to the door of the house was the kitchen. Although rather small, it has a few simple cooking machines capable of cooking food with rather high ease. There was a rectangular table that had a total of four seats, two being opposite of each other.

After putting most of the perishables in the fridge, Dojima put in the boxes of meals in the microwave oven to warm them up for dinner. Nanako sat down at the living room in front of another table and turned on the television, sitting directly near it. Yuu looked around, absorbing the view of his new home. Dojima beckoned him to follow him up the stairs to show him his room. Yuu followed him and walked up the stairs, his footsteps echoing throughout the quiet house.

After settling down and unpacking his things, Yuu joined Nanako and Dojima down at the table in the living room for his dinner. In the midst of his dinner, Dojima asked Yuu some questions.

"So... how's Yukino doing? Is she fine?"

"Yes, she's busy now working with Dad overseas at Hong Kong. They're bound for the United Kingdom after that. It is a busy job."

"Heh... Yukino was always a hard worker. Glad to see she's doing fine." Dojima chuckled.

"Well, so long as you're part of the family, so don't stand on ceremony, just make yourself at home. Your mother doesn't have the time to look after you, so I'll be the one doing that instead."

"Yes, I will. Thank you very much."

Dojima's phone began buzzing loudly, interrupting their talk with a loud blare.

"Now who could be calling at such a late hour?" Dojima said, looking clearly annoyed at having his time at home ruined.

Dojima stood up and walked to the side.

"Hello, Dojima speaking... Yeah?... I see... So where is it?"

Dojima paused rather long to hear the reply from the opposite end of the line.

"...All right, I'm on my way."

Dojima turned off the call and sighed tiredly, looking rather disappointed.

"Looks like I took the right choice to skip the booze. Sorry Nanako and Yuu, I gotta do some stuff at work. Just go ahead and eat first. I'll be back rather late so go rest early okay? You've both got school tomorrow."

Nanako looks at him and replied rather dispiritedly, "Okay, Bye Dad."

"See you both later. Oh... before I forgot... Nanako did you keep the laundry already?"

"Yeah I did it before you came back just now."

Dojima nodded before bidding both goodbye and he trudged out the door, sliding it shut and drove off into the night.

Later, after finishing their dinner and beverages, Yuu and Nanako sat down at the same table to watch the nightly news, there was the topic of a scandal.

"_City council secretary Taro Namatame is under fire for an alleged relationship with the female reporter, Mayumi Yamano_"

The screen showed two photos of a man and woman with their names respective to each other. They were the victims of the news' scandal.

"_His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to this station she would most likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has chosen to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances. Until the allegations of the affair with Mr Namatame has resolved, she will remain off the air and out of public eye._"

"This is boring."

Nanako finished the last of her grape juice and turned the channel to a different one while maintaining the obvious boredom written on her face.

The next channel she changed to was advertising a commercial of the famous shopping mart, Junes.

"_At Junes, everyday is Customer Appreciation day! Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Everyday's great at your Junes~~!_"

"Everyday's great at your Junes~~!" Nanako cheerily sang along with the commercial's catchy tune.

Yuu couldn't help but smile at Nanako's cuteness. There was still some unresolved tension between both Nanako and him because of the incident from just now. They were the only ones at home, so he better strike a conversation so that this wouldn't get any more awkward.

"So... you like Junes?"

"Yeah! It's the best place in the whole wide world!" Nanako gave a glowing innocent smile.

"I'll try singing it then... Err... Everyday's great at your... Junes!"

"Wow, you're pretty good. I'm the only one in my class that can remember the whole song!" she laughed cheerfully.

Then , to settle the awkward moment from earlier, he asked, "Are you still mad about just now?"

"Hmm? Just now?" Nanako displayed a puzzled look.

"You know, at the gas station, I nearly fainted there and looked like you were very uneasy about it. I just want to apologise about that. It was my fault, you didn't have to be so mad about it."

"Oh... that... No, it's fine. You're my cousin, so it's only natural. By the way, are you fine now?"

"Yeah, I told you, it's just car sickness. It's nothing I can't take. So don't be worried. Okay? I appreciate it the thought though. It means a lot to me, so... thanks."

Nanako looked at him, then she put a hand on her chest and exhaled a relieved sigh.

"I see... If you're fine then it's okay. Just make sure you get more rest."

"Yes, mom."

" I'm not your mom! Really now, geez...!"

Nanako pouted and turned away from him to look at the television which was showing a nightly-aired cartoon. Yuu laughed inwardly at the teasing and looked at the beautiful dark night outside the opened windows. The curtains blew gently in the wind and it caressed Yuu's face smoothly. This wonderful feeling was complemented by the smooth dark sky, the pale white moon was its only company in the blackness of the night.

"So... this is where I'm spending the rest of the year, huh? It's not bad, I guess."


	6. Chapter 4: Where he was

**Author's Note: Finally! Took ages, but here's the latest chapter! The reason why this took so long was because of school and exams. It's hard not to not study everyday now. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Grahhh!"

Holding to the piece of metal, it became his anchor to surviving this insanity. His arms were aching from hanging on too long despite them being supplied by adrenaline surging through him. Looking back behind him, lay the sight of a catastrophe that had destroyed everything.

Everything was gone...

Nothing was left...

Nothing...

The fog of oblivion scattered everywhere where nothing could be visible in this god-damn fog. Except for this... thing...

What... Is... This, This... Monster...?

Shin crawled to the side, his body was wracked with pain. Slowly opening his eyes, what he saw was... fog?

Everywhere there exists an endless stream of fog rolling by him. He stood hurriedly as he discovered that he was no longer on the streets of Shin Tokyo City, but rather his entire vision was blocked by the thick veil... except for the opening that went down in a straight line. There was a tunnel in front of him whose walls were completely encased in fog for an entrance. A vortex swirling black and red stood out as its entrance, drawing him in.

All that was left for Shin to do was to go through, and he stepped through it without question. His face was blank, his eyes lifeless and his mind not currently his as he was taken over by an unknown force, beckoning him towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel. The fog parted as he walked through it, seemingly allowing him to pass into the end of the tunnel and out into the open.

_This is..._

Shin jolted back to his senses, instinctively rubbing his face and groaned.

"Where am I? Am I still sleeping?"

That was actually very possible, he could be in another nightmare again, just like what he had before he came here. Those were very real and vivid nightmares that haunted him throughout the days.

Wasn't he still in the city, what happened to him?

Shin looked at the town before him, his instincts told him that was very obvious; something wasn't right.

Then, he felt a shiver run up his spine. Something ominous was approaching.

He was not alone.

Then, he heard that thing yell out in the air. It sounded around the corner. The usually lethargic Shin was actively examining his current location now, as hard to believe as it seemed.

Peeking around the corner, he saw a strange looking man shout into the air with both his arms up, their fists clenched in anger.

"DAMN YOU RACHEL!"

It was here that Shin noticed that man was not just any ordinary person. He was carrying a sword too big and seemingly heavy to hold, his clothes weren't even right for a typical citizen. His sweater was red and his pants seemed a little too long for him. What kind of madman carries a huge ass sword and wear weird clothes? Could he be a one of those people online that dress up as a cartoon character?

What were they called again...? Cos..cos- something something...

Then, Shin's danger radar went on full alert. The man turned his head towards Shin's general direction, and started charging towards him.

_Damn! How the hell did he hear me?_

Shin turned about and ran like a what a rat would from a cat. The chances of out running this man were very slim. A thing to note here is that where Shin is from... well, let's just say he always gets first place in last.

However, this time, being felt as if empowered by a powerful force, he bulldozed his way through many streets. The footsteps behind him louder and louder with each passing second. Even with the sudden boost, he still couldn't get out of the man's range of sight. All the fog was doing seemed to be hindering him as it didn't let him see anything and where he was going.

"Whoa!"

Yelling at the sudden turn of events, Shin had happened to reached the outskirts of the town and into a field of grass that came out of nowhere. His breath became severely labored and his exhausted legs began to get to him, the effect of exercise left him with scraps of energy left. Then, he saw a building appear right in front of him. The fog evaded the space where the building appeared, as if telling Shin, "Come here, it's safe."

Thinking of nothing but surviving, he dismissed the random piece of logic that appeared which almost made him think, "Where did this building come from ...etc, etc.", things that may cause him to lose his life if he were to waste anymore time.

Rushing through the wooden doors, he charged towards the front of the place and fell down on his face. Telling himself off for that little incident, Shin rolled to the side where there was cover. Rubbing his nose, he quietly moaned as the floor was hard marble and it didn't feel right with his nose.

"Great, if that person comes through here, I can't get out. I'm so dead."

There was no other exit, only one; it was the entrance. Cursing himself for the blunder, he waited with bated breath as he half-expected the mysterious man to burst through the front door.

And burst through the door he did. Not only that but he gave a shout that would've scarred Shin for many days to come.

"ALRIGHT YOU PIECE OF SHIT! COME OUT SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS! YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING ME THIS ENTIRE TIME, RIGHT?"

What?

He had been doing what? Wasn't it the man the one who had been chasing him all this time?

Then, out of nowhere, a black shadow descended onto the right side of the man in form of a dark entity that not even the man noticed yet. Slowly, it became to morph into a human. It was by then, the creature was revealed to be the man's exact copy of himself.

_What the... there's two of them?_

It wasn't only after the complete transformation that the man had completely acknowledged that the one standing in front of him was another of himself. That form of acknowledgement was in the form of a stupefied look followed by a dash of confusion, fear and all those kinds of things rolled into one.

Shin didn't even understand what was going on. The man's other copy had a dark aura on it and as the taunts went by, it grew larger. The shouts directed at it was doing absolutely nothing but fuelling that abyssal darkness surrounding it. Then, a warning came. Deep within Shin's gut, it told him if he didn't get out now and escape while the man was distracted, he'll die.

Shin ran towards the entrance, however it was too late already. By the time, Shin opened the door, the deed was done.

"You're... NOT... ME!"

Darkness exploded behind Shin where the man had been. The shock of the impact was so great it blasted Shin out of the building altogether. Fortunately, if it wasn't for that, he would have been crushed by the falling debris of what was left of the building. Unfortunately, he had landed his back on a tree. That hurt a lot worse than falling on his face, after all, the blast of the impact almost broke his back. The glass murals that adorned the building were crashing down like rain, the entire structure was demolished and in its place stood something that defined the word mammoth entirely. A behemoth, moving like the giant, yet appearing to move ever so slowly due to his size, covered the entire land. It blotted out the sky with its humongous frame.

The landscape, now changed from a serene calm grass field transmogrified into a horrific monstrosity that was unlike anything. To call it a monster was too spot on, the titan now clearly visible as it dispelled the surrounding fog to uphold its morbid magnificence. Towering over everything, eight heads gave a scream that ripped the air with terror and despair. It's sharp white fangs were seemingly salivating as if hungry for its meal. The feeling was compared to that of a baby newborn that was ready to consume everything and anything until it was sated after its awakening from its eternal sleep.

The entire body was nothing but dark, blackness that was indescribable. Nothing was considered sane here, neither was everything being insane, nothing mattered, all that happened was now being consumed indiscriminately by this thing. The body was just in front of Shin, now caught within the disarray.

He cried out in fear, not knowing what was going on.

What, what...is...

The monster gave another loud roar, and all eight heads began exuding black fog that began covering everywhere. There were instances where most of the fog turned into tendrils that lashed wildly out everywhere. What it touched, died. The land became eroded, void of life and the sky to grey, giving off the most insane of colour. It began to break like glass and down came what seemed to be bits and pieces of it. What remained turned into the same colour as the tunnel entrance from just now; a red and black vortex. The sky was raining down grey onto the Earth.

Ash.

Ash was ruining the plains with its dull greyness as it came to signal the end of all existence. The cause? Answer: Ugly over here.

Rather unfitting in the situation, the sky just did nothing but swirl like no one's business, if had a mind of its own, it would be completely not minding what was going on down on the ground.

Focusing on the situation at hand, Shin ignored of what he had just thought of and made off back into the direction where he thought he could've come from. He had instinctively covered his mouth, that black fog that 'thing' was given off was somewhat off, like he would die from it if he breathed it in or stayed near it for too long.

He had reached the town, his stamina weakened and exhausted. Without any spare energy left, he collapsed to the ground gasping for breath. The ground shook and rumbled, indicating the monster was drawing near. Despite its massive size, it was still slow moving and it hadn't moved an inch from the spot where it first spawned.

However, that was not the main focus of the problem at hand. The issue here, was that Shin had stopped running and by now, it took noticed of its prey. The gigantic heads turned to look at him, their fangs glistened with some kind of saliva. The mere look into their eyes and Shin fell back on his back, too stunned and terrified to even budge. It was like it was sucking his very soul and eating away at his life essence.

_"Someone..."_

_"I don't want to die..."_

Then, he heard something. It was a vague sound, but he managed to somehow distinguish it out amongst the cacophony of brutal thundering roars of the moving beast. It sounded like... it was coming from the black creature?

Wait a minute, where was the man? Is he dead already? He wasn't seen, so he was sure to be lost in all that dark fog of the monster.

_**"He's not."**_

Shin stopped.

"What the... Who said that?"

Severely confused by the sudden voice that came from within his mind, Shin paused to the carnage of the beast to take a moment of a breather. Then, everything slowed.

The monster was now moving in slow motion, all the ash stopped... and then it all started to go back upwards into the sky. All of it converged together in a circular motion, forming a hurricane of grey, it now hovered over Shin like little butterfly, but with the sheer power of a storm. The hurricane bellowed and shrank slowly, converging itself into a single point.

Shin saw it transform into a tiny ball of energy. It was still shrinking, until it shrank to the size of a small orange, its blue brilliance lighting up the still-existing fog besides the creature's version of the fog.

**"Hey there, kid. Need some help?"**

It spoke to him. Barely understanding it, Shin could only mutter.

"W-what...?"

**"Come on, normal Japanese. You speak it?"**

"E-err..."

The blue ball was TALKING to him. It did not have a mouth, but despite that...

HOW WAS A FREAKING BALL TALKING!

**"Whoa, kid. Easy there. Didn't mean to scare you. I mean really, never seen a talking ball of energy before? Just asking how many sane people can do what you're doing right now, y'know. Talking to stuff that aren't meant to be spoken to and all that crap."**

"I-I... wait do you know what's going on? What's that huge thing walking back there?"

The little ball of energy moved a little, literally turning around to take a look as if it had a head.

**"Oh, that thing? Pffft... don't mind it it's just a some guy's shadow, not your problem. If you like I can show you where to get out of here."**

Shin stared at the ball. He could get out of here? With this guy's help? Whatever chance that comes to get out of here, he'll take it. But the ball had said something about someone's shadow.

"E-excuse me, but what did you say about a shadow?"

**"Whoa, you're actually paying attention. Good to know it worked on him."**

Muttering something inaudible at the end, the ball's voice rose to a level which was very described as being very enthusiastic.

**"Okay, first things first. That thing right there is a shadow, a person's manifestation of his, slash, her sub-consciousness. It's like a part of you, the part which you don't like about yourself, the part which you hate or the part where you just deny being a part of yourself. They basically mean the same, but that's not important ATM. That's at the moment BTW. I'm just too lazy to actually talk so much explanatory bs."**

**"So imagine, everyone. In this current day and age, people wear masks. No, not the kind you see at a festival. Figuratively speaking, the mask where people see you and what kind of personality you present to others. It's called a façade. A mask you wear to persevere while facing life's hardships and constant bitching."**

"A mask...?"

Shin turned to the massive beast again to observe the doom and destruction as the path it behind it was barren when it moved forward.

**"So, a shadow... you see. Is a... oh wait I'll tell you later. It looks like things are starting to get some ass up in here."**

"Wha-"

Before he could even finish that sentence, the ground below split apart in an earth-shattering blast as fissures appeared out nowhere and sent Shin tumbling right below into the earth. Shin screamed for his life and squealed in a high-pitched voice. The shock of the earth of was so powerful that something of this magnitude was caused by...

Shin couldn't believe his eyes, the black tendrils in the ground were seemingly the culprits as they were tearing up the insides of the ground. They were slowly, but surely coming towards Shin as he hurtled towards them. The tendrils exploded and out came long rows of teeth that were so long he swore it was the size of a mammoth's tusk. Unfortunately for the black things, Shin reached out and grabbed a steel pipe that was sticking out of the ground right beside the place where he was falling to his doom.

**"Damn, it even had to go split the earth just so it can have a meal. Come on, give the guy a break and just let him eat 'cha." **

The ball had followed him all the way down this chasm just so it could ask him to give up and die? Who the hell does this guy think he is?

**"Ohh, careful, if you're not, you might break the pipe, then some poor guy's gonna have to fix it in again. And this time, it's not gonna be Mario, and NO NOT LUIGI EITHER! THEY BOTH NEED THEIR GODDAMN PLUMBLER BREAKS WITH THEIR GODDAMN PLUMBLER WHORES UP THEIR GODDAMN..."**

The ball was ranting off randomly while Shin was gonna die with he even slipped his hands.

All he could do now was to attempt to shut the thing up without moving his arms. He couldn't hold on with only one arm as he was way too weak.

So, he did what came to mind naturally.

**"H-Hey, what are... OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"**

The ball yelped in pain as Shin bit down as hard as he could so the ball would stop mouthing off. What he didn't know that the ball tasted terrible so he spat it out.

**"OW OW OW OW OW! YOU BASTARD, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? AFTER ALL THE THINGS I DID FOR YOU, THIS IS THE THANKS I GET? GEE, THANKS MISTER I-DON'T-CARE-PLEASE-LEAVE-ME-ALONE-TO-DIE HUEHUEHEUHEUE!"**

Now the ball was super pissed and started to mouth off at a faster bullet-speed pace that was bombarding Shin with an aim so deadly he was practically giving Shin a migraine so huge he felt like dropping off the pipe right there to end it all.

_What did he even do other than talking crap?_

Shin couldn't help but roll his eyes exasperatedly at the ball's random shenanigans. He couldn't do anything but hold on to the pipe at the moment, there was nothing he could do to escape from this precarious predicament.

He hoped he'd have a plan to escape as he can't hold on for very long. The free hanging of his legs and body over the abyss below him was pumping much needed adrenaline into him. If the fall doesn't kill him, those fanged head-tendril things would.

The cracks above him widened up revealing more off the black sky above. Then the black creature minutes ago was right above him. Its heads had appeared unpredictably out of nowhere and were coiling downwards towards Shin. His face grew into shock and turned into anguish as one of the incoming heads opened its jaws wide and went directly straight for him.

"SHIT!"

Feeling the aura of a ravenous beast emitting from the foul mouth itself, Shin just stayed where he was, like a prey frozen by the fear of the predator. He couldn't do anything but let himself be easy food for the monster right in front of him. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

Shin could see the insides of the mouth by now, there was nothing inside. Darkness occupied the entire insides, accompanied by a feeling of despair that washed over him like a wave of emotion.

Feeling all hope is lost, Shin resigned to his fate. The monster ended it quicker than it should have been. It struck out at a blinding speed impossible for its size and devoured Shin and the debris around him completely, leaving no trace behind.

The monster roared in triumph while the rest followed suit. Lifting its head out of the chasm below, it moved onward into the next part of this world. The life it just took was the first out of many to come.

Now began the grand feast once more!

"Uhhh..."

Shin clutched his head groggily, his bodily bent forward in an awkward position.

Where the hell was he now?

Still dizzy, he tried standing up. Then, he felt something at his legs...

"Gaahhh!"

There was darkness completely covering his legs where they should have been. The entire half of his body seemed to covered in darkness as well. It seemed to have buried down under the mass of black. It was as if the darkness itself had a life of its own. Then, it started to pull Shin under it, Shin yelled out, struggling to keep himself up. He thrashed out wildly at the darkness, it had a disgustingly gooey feeling that resembled an adhesive of sorts, making it harder for Shin to even move in that substance.

"Ughh... what is this!?"

**"Enjoying your bath?"**

Shin dropped what he was doing and looked towards the source of the voice; he already knew who its owner was. The obvious snide remarks and degrading comments came right from none other than that ball of energy.

**"You seem to be trapped in some sort of black puddle, but I guess it's nothing you can't handle. I'll see at the other side." **

The ball said and sauntered off casually despite it floating. The totally perfect time where Shin needed to help to get out of the black thing and the ball just went off like nobody's business.

"Why you..."

The mere thought made Shin so angry at being made a fool out of and he started glowing blue. His body giving off waves of energy.

"Making fun of me like that... YOU BASTARD!"

Screaming out with rage, he punched the surface of the black mass and started to glow even brighter. Then, a light came from behind him, appearing like a spotlight that burned everything with its brightness. With a sudden blast of light, everything was swallowed up.

When it died down, Shin's eyes took a while before adjusting themselves to the near impossible-to-see darkness after almost being blinded to the light. The pit he was stuck in was no longer there and he was now in some dark place where black mist prevailed itself dominant.

"D-did I do that?"

**"Looks like it was something you couldn't handle, but you somehow got yourself out of ridiculous easy pinch. I could've have done the same but with NO ARMS!"**

"Will you just shut up!"

**"Was that a question? Anyway let's just get out of here, this place is freakishly dark. And hey, I'm the only thing that can glow around here, so I can just light a path to way out. "**

"No way..."

He was going to have to endure this thing's excessive nonsense the whole time...?

"Someone please kill me now..."

And as if hearing his muttered wish, the ground shook so hard it sent Shin upward, dropping onto the floor like used laundry. The mist cleared with frightening sudden speed and out of the ground came something. With the speed of a bolt of lightning, it gave out dark red energy and blasted beams of the same dark red energy everywhere.

**"Also, you've got a new power now. Hope you can use it wisely."**

"What?"

The ball was uncharacteristically saying something sane instead of trash talking for once. Confused by the ball's words, he was left distracted long enough before something else approached him.

A monster now revealed itself as it sprouted out of the ground. It was a giant juggernaut whose base of its entire body was attached to the ground below and it had four elongated bony arms which carried a two-handed scythe on two hands each. It had no face, even if it had it was cloaked in darkness behind a hood of hollowed darkness which just staring at it made it as though it was sucking out Shin's soul.

It was as if he was looking the face of Death itself.

It bellowed in anger and screeched in the air, almost deafening Shin as he stumbled backwards.

It shook the ground as its massive scythes struck out which only aimed to maim him. Shin cried out as he barely dodged the swipe and was grazed in the chest. The monster now waved up his arm, summoning up reinforcements to help him destroy this pesky human. Balls of black blob began to rise up from the black floor and this sparked another sensation of fear in Shin.

**"I AM A SHADOW, THE TRUE SELF."**

_Shadow?_

**"ALL OF MY ENEMIES SHALL PERISH, ANYONE WHO GOES AGAINST ME SHALL BE RIPPED INTO OBLIVION. FOR I HAVE OBTAINED TRUE POWER TO CRUSH EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING ELSE, ESPECIALLY TERUMI!"**

The voice that resonated across the entire plane of darkness howled in the form of shockwaves.

The backs on the three blobs of darkness morphed and there were now a blue mask on each of them that highly resembled you'd see in a play. The black-coloured things now changed colour and had now striped alternating colours of black and red. Mouths burst out of their form and a drooling tongue as their saliva slowly dripped from their tips.

And they were looking at Shin hungrily.

Shin gulped.

"Damn it..."

Realising he had no means of defending himself, he turned tail and ran away from them, only to see nothing in front of him. The dark sky rumbled over head.

There was no way that he could survive this encounter, he'd die.

_But... I can't die, I made a promise!_

As the shadows closed in on him, he clutched his fist with defiance, wanting to survive, fighting the will to die to these things. He felt his chest burning up like before when he was still on the streets.

This power came to him as a card fell into his now outstretched hand, exuding sheer power, it was powerful enough to repel away the mob of Shadows. Even the Shadows themselves became rather restless as they hovered unpredictably in front of him.

A card came cascading down, spinning slowly as it gradually descended onto Shin's outstretched hand. A word came calling out slowly, every syllable became more charged with tension than the next. A wild grin stretched out across his face, something he hadn't experience for a while.

It was smile capable of turning savage wolves into something that of a domestic dog, authoritative dictators into whimpering kittens and change black into white. It was something that held his every existence of power, and he was loving every minute with it.

Ecstasy, it seemed foreign to him, yet still ironically it felt like it was an old friend and they were only catching up. The familiar swelling of sudden power came frothing out and before he knew it, he began speaking the words that unleashed his power within.

"Per... "

"So..."

"Na..."

Then, like a moment ago, the same power that saved him for the pit of darkness freed itself from Shin.

At that moment, it was felt ripping itself out of Shin's body and manifested itself. What was at first pure energy was now had into a physical form. The being now rose into the air and appeared behind Shin, dissolving most of the darkness surrounding him as it came into view.

Shin looked up and faced towards the Shadows, his eyes shining blue, and, surprisingly uncharacteristic of him, he taunted them.

"**Do you bitches want to find out how it's like to not have guts inside?"**

Ragna was lost. There was no way whatsoever that allowed him to move. He was stuck in a state of limbo, feeling as if he was neither dead or alive. It was like he had drown, yet he was staring aimlessly ahead in the sea of black, giving him a feeling that he could have fallen into blindness. This numbing darkness the sole existence of everything that failed to rise again.

This time, Ragna was sure he was dead.

"I-I don't want to die..."

His thoughts came about as he futilely attempted to move his arms, much less struggle for complete control over his limbs. Yet, they were what he feared to be, dead. He had already lost all feeling to his four other senses, only sight was sole companion. Yet ironically, it gave him blindness.

Ragna's thoughts could only swim toward his sister and brother. As much as it hated for him to admit it, he missed Jin. Their blood-boiling battles was their only means of ever communicating with each other, after being so long apart from each other, each battle was like a reunion he had always wanted. However, it'll had been better fitting mood if Jin hadn't tried freezing him to death each time. Ragna had still not found his other sibling though, after that madman Terumi took her away from him all those years ago, he'd still hadn't seen her.

It would be safe to assume that she was dead, however Ragna didn't believe in it and hoped that someday, all three of them would be together again, sitting under a tree just having a family picnic, laughing without a care in the world. No NOL, no black beast and no Terumi. Just the three of them together. Jin would just tease Saya and then she would cry and complain about his bullying.

But that was back then, the present was the now.

Reality was cruel and the truth struck him harder than a hammer on a nail, Jin's mind had been taken over by own weapon, his Nox Nyctores, Yukianesa. Because of these, it led to their daily disputes of killing each other every time they met. At the first time they fought, Ragna instantly knew that Jin's mind wasn't strong enough for a powerful weapon such as a Nox Nyctores. They went into each other's way again before the confrontation with Terumi in the NOL headquarters in Kagutsuchi. This time Ragna noticed that Jin could not even unsheathe his own sword, rendering it next to uselessness.

Ragna couldn't afford to waste his time and went ahead to beat up Jin, causing him to be unconscious as he collapsed to the ground. Ragna told him before he was knocked out why Jin was always being so violent towards him and said that it was because he was being controlled by his weapon, making it so that it would seem that it was Jin wanting to kill Ragna all along.

In the end, he left Jin to one side and went forward to defeat Terumi. At that point all memory of the event that transpired was left unknown. It was like a huge chunk of memory was wiped clean from his state of mind.

Now, in his current state, it was all he could do. Just lie there in the darkness and...

"Hey me..."

A face looked down at him from above, only inches away.

It was him.

_**"Get up, you fucking bastard."**_

With a single backward thrust, Ragna's shadow picked up Ragna by the throat and flung him out of the abyss.

Immediately after hurtling through a portal that ripped in the air, Ragna slammed into the ground with his face in the lead.

Yelping out in pain, he felt rather relieved to have his senses return to him albeit feeling only pain at the that point of time. He was glad that he was out of that goddamn abyss, but it was only the start of another problem...

This thing in front of him was torturing him the whole time he was there, displaying imagery of his past and goading, inciting his rage each time, and with each taunt it became stronger. It turned into a scythe wielding demonic monster that was now in front of him as it absorbed each ounce of his hatred towards himself. It bid its time from killing Ragna immediately and instead was patiently sapping Ragna of his energy for itself. It was then that it decided that it was time to move on the main course.

Ragna had currently no strength to fight back and could only helpless lie on the ground as he awaited his impending death. He was going to be consumed by this messed up version of the Grim Reaper, a role he was playing back at the place he was from.

When Ragna was a kid, he didn't even know that something like that existed, only when the Sister at the church told him all about God and mortality of humans. But it was stuff that somehow interested only his sister. The Sister back then still had books that showed how humans portray death as this hood- wearing freak with a skeleton for a body and a scythe in his hand. When he came, it wouldn't be pretty in the pictures as it showed him spreading plagues and disease everywhere it went. He wouldn't have paid it any attention, but it felt as though the same thing was this monster in front of him. It had almost the same outfits but with two scythes and no skeleton, but it was currently making him almost shit his pants.

Ragna had all hoped lost as he waited for the scythe to chop him into tiny pieces... when suddenly...

"YARRGGHHH!"

From a corner that Ragna did not notice before, a boy burst forth from the thick fog with a pipe in his hands. There were patches of dark liquid on the ground. The boy was covered from head to toe with the same thick liquid. Suddenly, a black ball of gloop materialised out of nowhere from the ground. It lunged at the boy from behind in a surprise attack. The boy, stayed motionless and a sword stuck into the gloop monster and stabbed into the ground like a stake.

The figure who stabbed it now revealed itself as the fog dissipated away and showed it shining brightly despite being in the dense fog. It was wearing white knight armour which was bigger than the boy himself, it's sword was a glowing a bright light. It was the only thing it wield yet it could be capable of tearing through its enemies.

"Lancelot, kill them."

With a dark voice, he commanded it to eliminate the fodder monsters, then with a calm grace, he proceeded to move towards the main boss, the Grim Reaper.

"If I kill you, all of this would be over, it'll soon be..."

Readying the pipe in his hand, the boy charged forward towards the demonic shadow with renewed vigour, yelling out a battle cry.


End file.
